5 Tips for Turning Pool Fencing Into a Windbreak
Posted on: 28 May 2017
To reduce evaporation at your home pool, you may want to put in a windbreak. As you are legally obligated to put up pool fencing, why not have the fence perform double duty as a safety precaution and a windbreak? Here are some ideas to help you get started.
1. Choose a Solid Fence
To really prevent the wind from reaching the pool, opt for a solid fence. A wood paneled privacy fence or an etched glass panel fence will block more air than chain link or wrought iron fencing. If you already have a fence, consider modifying it to make it more solid and wind resistant.
2. Use Plants
Climbing vines can turn a fence with gaps into a solid pool barrier. Alternatively, you may want to line other types of fences with evergreens or hedges. Once those plants are as tall as your pool fence, that increases the surface area at the top of your windbreak, and that helps to slow down the flow of air as well.
In other cases, you may want to use plants to add decoration as well as function. For instance, if you have a very small yard and the fence is close to the pool, you may want to add plants and trees in that area. Then, your pool feels like it's surrounded by nature and not just a stripe of concrete next to the fence.
3. Add Extra Fencing as Needed
Sometimes, you need more than one fence to reduce the wind around your pool. In particular, if your yard is quite large and the main fence is far from the pool, you may want to put an additional fence next to the pool.
As you already have one fence around the whole area, the additional fence doesn't need to surround the whole pool. Instead, put it between the pool and the prevailing winds. The fence segment could be decorative, or you could put a changing area behind it or use that space for storage.
4. Focus on Extra Height
A low fence won't block the wind. By law, pool fencing only needs to be 1.2 metres high. To use the fence as a windbreak, you may want to increase this height.
5. Add an Angle to One Side of the Fence
Angles can also help. If your fence has a top rail where one side is angled, the angle will encourage the wind to move along it, and then, the wind will be more likely to go up and away from your pool.
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